This invention relates generally to baseball protection devices and more particularly to protection devices attachable to a baseball or softball glove.
Catchers and infielders ("players"), particularly first basemen, routinely take hard blows on the medial part of the wrist and lower forearm of their fielding arms while attempting to field hard-hit or thrown baseballs. Typically, the baseball skips on the ground or takes a bad hop, surprising the player and resulting in a severe, painful bruise or welt on the vulnerable medial part of the player's wrist or lower forearm. On rare occasions, a fracture of the wrist or lower forearm may even result.
Several attempts have been made to protect this part of the player's arm, but without much success. For example, Bates U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,024 shows a padded protector flap which laces to the heel of a catcher's mitt. The flap is a nuisance to the catcher because the laced connection between the flap and mitt allows the flap to swing freely. Furthermore, the flap is free to flop away from the catcher's wrist to a position where the wrist is totally unprotected and, possibly, to a position where the glove pocket is obstructed for fielding the baseball. Moreover, because the flap consists of a thin, single padded layer covered in leather, it provides only limited protection for the catcher's wrist, even when it does rest flush against the wrist.
Kennedy U.S. Pat. No. 1,602,027 also shows a wrist protection device which laces to a catcher's mitt. The device includes a pair of inflatable tubes shaped like an open-ended bracelet partially to encircle the catcher's wrist. Aside from the leakage problem often associated with pneumatic devices of this type, this device does not fit wrists of all sizes. Chances are that the device either will be uncomfortably tight on the catcher's wrist or so loose as to be a nuisance, unless, of course, the device is tailor-made for each particular catcher's wrist.
A limited amount of wrist protection is also afforded by the wrist support shown in Ferry U.S. Pat. No. 811,389. This device is little more than a leather glove without fingers. It is designed to support the wrist of a catcher wearing a catcher's mitt, as well as to help hold the mitt on the catcher's hand. It is not a protection device, but it does have a partially wrist-encircling portion which provides nominal protection for the wrist.
Other protection devices of limited, if any, utility as a baseball protection device are shown in Gamble U.S. Pat. No. 1,131,895 and Wheeler U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,074. Gamble shows a hockey glove with a wrist-protecting extension that is much too heavy and bulky for use by a catcher or infielder who must possess exceptionally quick hands and reflexes to field a hard-hit or thrown baseball. Moreover, the extension is permanently sewn to the remainder of the glove, a feature which is highly impractical for a baseball glove that can be used by a player, such as an outfielder, not requiring such a device.
Wheeler shows a forearm shield for use by persons engaged in handling chemicals and abrasives. This shield is not designed to protect against blows and has no means whatsoever for connecting the same to a glove of any type.
Accordingly, there is a need for a baseball protection device that is light and flexible enough comfortably to fit wrists of all sizes and permit unrestrained movement of the player's wrist and hand, and yet strong enough to provide substantial protection for the player's wrist and lower forearm.
It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a baseball protection device that is light and flexible, and yet provides substantial unrestraining protection for the player's wrist and lower forearm.
Another object of the invention is to provide a protection device, as aforesaid, that is comfortable to wear and yet fits wrists of all sizes.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, that is easily attached to and detached from the baseball glove, including both catchers' mitts and fielders' gloves.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid, that does not flop loosely on the player's wrist so as to be a nuisance or, possibly, to obstruct the glove pocket.